Cultures (video game)

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Cultures: Discovery of Vinland is a 2000 real-time strategy and city-building game. It was created by Funatics Software and published by Phenomedia, and it’s the first game in the Cultures series. Players run Viking settlements in Vinland, building roads, managing the economy, and training workers like blacksmiths. The main goal is to collect shards of a crashed meteor with magical powers.

The PC version released in Europe in late 2000 and in North America on July 31, 2001. An iOS version, developed by Headup Games, came out in 2014. The game received mixed reviews; some critics praised its depth, while others noted the genre’s popularity varied by region. It was seen as a competitor to games like The Settlers IV and Anno 1503, and it benefited from strong pre-orders and high expectations thanks to the developer’s previous success with Catan: Die Erste Insel. In Germany, it sold well at launch and continued to perform, reaching about 150,000 copies sold worldwide by early 2002.

Cultures spawned three sequels—Cultures 2: The Gates of Asgard, Cultures: Northland, and Cultures: 8th Wonder of the World. By 2018, the Cultures series had outsold 700,000 copies, becoming Funatics’ most successful game line.